Kristine in VA Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 Hey, I have been re-reading my WTM and notes that I have on teaching writing from Susan's workshops, and I've put together a plan for my 6th grader's writing. Last year we did 1-level outlines for history, and he seems fairly comfortable with that. So this year I was thinking he should do 2-level outlines of history and/or science twice a week, 1 summary each week (4-5 sentences) on a history or science topic he chooses (I will probably choose sometimes), and 1 summary each week on the plot or a plot element of the literature he is reading. We will also write 1-2 letters a month. Does that sound reasonable? Should I be thinking about something else or other skills to introduce, such as how to take notes, compare/contrast, or cause/effect writing or maybe that is a high school skill? We are using R&S 6 grammar so I could work in their writing lessons, but I also don't want to plan too much. Also I have used Classical Writing Aesop with him in the past which worked well. Maybe I should plan to do Homer and my plan above? I have that feeling I'm missing something, so maybe you all can reassure me! Thanks for you thoughts, Kristine in VA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Hen Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 Hi Kristine, Your writing plan sounds wonderful and I wish I could have gotten my 6th grader to write that much. My goal last year from listening to SWB and CD's was to have DS write 4 times/week short narrations or on a particular topic for his various subjects; 2 in history, 1 in science, 1 in LA, plus do the writing assignment in R&S. Do a 2 to 3 depth outline from history and/or science one time per week. We were also fitting in Classical Composition Narration level---similar to CW Aesop. It was really too much so I cut out R&S writing assignments and just had us read the assignment together, discuss it and move on. He did CC about every-other-week. He did outlines, lots of them and sometimes 2 or 3 per week. He really liked them. I liked it that in CC he took the outline and wrote from it. He ended up typically doing 2 short narrations or writings on a topic per week. These tended to be one to two pages in length but some were just a few lines in length. 11/12 yo boys are all over the place on how much they can write. I'm in the camp that their fine-motor skills are still developing and it really can hurt to write. If it does hurt then back off but make sure he writes something everyday. HTH, Carole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted August 16, 2008 Share Posted August 16, 2008 is what we'll be using for 6th grade along with our ancient history studies and R&S English 6. IEW has theme writing lessons for history, fables and science. Check them out: http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/index.php?q=catalog/theme-based-writing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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